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Stephen C. Thaman, J.D.

Professor Emeritus

Education

B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1968
M.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1969
J.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1975
Dr. iur., University of Freiburg, Germany, 1992

Practice Areas

Professor Thaman got an M.A. in German in 1968, and a J.D. in 1975, both at the University of California. He then was an Assistant Public Defender in California for 11 ½ years from 1976-1987, having defended in around 60 jury trials, from misdemeanors to death penalty cases.

He was a Fulbright scholar at the Free University of Berlin from 1987-1988 and was an attorney-trainee at the European Commission of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France in 1988.  From 1991-1992 he worked at the International Institute for Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences in Siracusa, Italy.  In 1992 he was awarded a Dr. iur from the University of Freiburg, in Germany, his dissertation being in Environmental Criminal Law in the U.S. (written in German). From 1992-1995 he was IREX fellow at the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences and later as  liaison for the ABA Central and Eastern European Law Initiative in Moscow.  He was Professor of Law at Saint Louis University from 1995 to 2017 where he taught criminal law and procedure, comparative law, comparative criminal procedure and international criminal law and directed a summer law program in Madrid from 2000 through 2013. He was co-director of the Center for International and Comparative Law from 2000 through 2013. 

Research Interests

Professor Stephen C. Thaman, a recognized expert on comparative criminal law and procedure, joined the SLU LAW faculty in 1995. He has consulted with Russia, Latvia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia on the reform of their codes of criminal procedure.

Professor Thaman, who is fluent in six languages, obtained his B.A., M.A. and J.D. from the University of California – Berkeley. He has lectured in 26 countries on five continents on issues in U.S. and comparative criminal law and procedures. His interest in international and comparative law developed in the late 1980s. After 12 years as an assistant public defender in Alameda County, Calif., Prof. Thaman accepted a Fulbright Senior Professor Award at the Institute of Criminal Law and Procedure at the Free University of Berlin. He was also awarded a research fellowship at the Max-Planck- Institute for Comparative and International Criminal Law in Freiburg, Germany where he broadened his knowledge of international legal traditions. Prof. Thaman is currently on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max-Planck Institute in Freiburg.

Publications and Media Placements

Professor Thaman has written authoritative studies of new jury systems in Russia, Spain and Argentina and about lay participation in Venezuela and Japan.   The second edition of his book “Comparative Criminal Procedure: A Casebook Approach” was published in Jan. 2008 and was later translated into Chinese. He has contributed chapters to some 60 books and and written some 50 articles dealing with U.S. and comparative criminal law and procedure. He has edited or co-edited four books on comparative plea bargaining, exclusionary rules, and right to counsel, as well as on comparative criminal procedure in general. His new casebook “Criminal Procedure: A Comparative Approach,” to be published by Aspen Press in 2026, is designed for use in introductory U.S. criminal procedure classes and comparative criminal procedure classes around the world. He is fluent in German, Spanish, Russian, French and Italian, has written and published, lectured and taught in all of these languages around the world.

Professor Thaman has consulted with Working Groups responsible for drafting new codes of criminal procedure in Russia (2001) and Latvia (2004) and contributed to the drafting of amendments to existing codes and the drafting of new codes of criminal procedure in Georgia, Kakazhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Indonesia and the Philippines.   

He has taught classes in comparative and U.S. criminal law and procedure as a visiting professor in Japan (2001), Nicaragua (2003)(in Spanish), Orleans, France (2004)(in French), Bologna (2005)(in Italian), Buenos Aires (2009)(in Spanish), Bern (2010), Rome (2010)(in Italian), Paris (2010), Modena, Italy (2013)(in Italian), Istanbul (2012), Chongqing, China (2013), Trento, Italy (2015, 2019), Szeged, Hungary (2017), Higher School of Economics in Moscow (2018, 2019, in Russian),  Lisbon (2016, 2019), Lucerne, Switzerland (2019, in German) He taught Comparative Legal Systems at the National University of Singapore from Aug. to Dec. 2008. 

Honors and Awards

In 2019 he was awarded the Hans-Heinrich Jescheck Prize by the Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and International Comparative Law and the International Association of Penal Law “in recognition of sustained innovative and outstanding research that has contributed significantly to the advancement of comparative, international or supranational criminal law."

Community Work and Service

From 2018-2014 he was on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg, Germany.  He was on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Penal Law from 2014 through 2024 and, since 2025 is a Vice-President of that organization. He is currently Of Counsel at Oehmichen International in Berlin.